I still don’t understand why we were told that dumping the body was in tradition with Islamic law. I also don’t understand why there were so many versions of events out in those early days. Sure, the basic story stayed the same; Pakistan, bin Laden, Marines, raid, 9/11 – but details of shoot-outs (or not), female hostages (or not), an armed bin Laden (or not), who could see what and when (or not) at the White House and other tidbits of info were flipping like a coin at a football game.

Russ Baker visited the California coastal community of Point Reyes on 9/29/11.

Russ is the author of Family of Secrets – The Bush Dynasty, The Powerful Forces That Put it in The White House, and What Their Influence Means for America.

After discussing some very interesting details and facts presented in his book, Russ was able to answer some questions from the audience.

Questions ranged from journalism in the 21st century and hackers, to Saudi connections to 9/11 and how Commissions, including the 9/11 Commission “never, ever get to the bottom of anything“. Watch the video above for more.

Last weekend Boiling Frogs Post contacted several independent sources and experts, and asked them for their straight-forward take on the absurdity-filled and ever-changing Bin Laden Death story. I say independent, because they are. As you’ll see these veterans and sources come from all different walks of Intelligence-Law Enforcement-Military, and as far as political orientation goes, they fall into every single category-liberal, conservative, libertarian and none. I want to thank them all for honoring the request given to them on extremely short notice, and for being honest, direct, commonsensical, and in some cases realistically humorous. Here is what they had to say, and say it briefly per my request, starting with my favorite investigative reporter and bestselling author, whom I respect tremendously and consider ‘truly independent,’ James Bamford:

I don’t know what happened, but here’s what I suspect. The White House press office was horrified. The image of an unarmed Bin Laden killed in his PJs, and his unarmed wife shot as she was trying to protect him, was too bland for prime time TV. So after consulting with the “perception managers” at The Rendon Group, they quickly called together a team of experts for a conference in the Roosevelt Room to come up with a better narrative.

Among those present was Nurse Nayirah, daughter of the former Kuwaiti ambassador to the U.S., accompanied by several PR representatives from Hill & Knowlton. It was her false claim that she had witnessed Iraqi soldiers take babies out of incubators in Kuwait and leave them on the floor to die, a lie propagandized around the world by H&K, that helped push the U.S. into the first Gulf War. Sitting next to her was Ahmed Chalabi, the man whose deceptions about Saddam and his WMD, heavily promoted by the New York Times, helped lead the country to war with Iraq. Then there was Jim Wilkinson, the Bush master propagandist who needed to find a way to get the country behind the war. He thus fed the story to the media of how Pvt. Jessica Lynch fearlessly mowed down Fedayeen terrorists with her M16 until she ran out of ammo, whereupon she was shot, stabbed, captured, tortured and raped. Unfortunately, through no fault of Lynch, it was later discovered to be totally made up. Finally, there was General Stanley McCrystal, largely responsible for promoting the fact that football star and Army private Pat Tillman was killed in a heroic battle in Afghanistan when in reality he was accidentally shot by his own men. The false story was then ballyhooed by the press and used by the Army as a major recruiting tool for the Afghan War.

After a few hours going around the table for ideas, the White House press people finally had their story. With one hand wrapped around his wife as a shield, Bin Laden used the other in a desperate effort to fight off capture by firing wildly at the commandos with an AK-47, but was finally taken down with a bullet right between his eyes.

James Bamford– One of the country’s leading writers on intelligence and national security issues.

If you factor in growth in government and the actual costs of the military and intelligence effort that finally succeeded in killing Osama bin Laden after fifteen years of trying, the renowned terrorist becomes the $3 trillion dollar man. Considering that he has not personally directed a successful terrorist operation since 9/11 that is quite impressive, somewhat like winning a lifetime achievement Oscar at the Academy Awards ceremony. And even 9/11 is by no means a slam-dunk for Osama as the Justice Department never charged him with that particular crime because they knew they did not have enough evidence to convince a jury. So his story ends, shot down in Pakistan while resisting or possibly surrendering, with his wife and son or alone, in a lavish mansion or a shack, as a result of a great spy operation or maybe not, and with the President of the United States personally directing the operation or possibly just sitting in for a photo-op. Requiescat in Pace Osama.

Preface: This post does not speculate on whether or not Bin Laden was actually killed last week or died previously, or on what images the government may possess, but only on what actually happened and what photographs have been released to date.

The White House said that Bin Laden had a weapon and tried to hide behind his wife like a coward. Now, the White House has admitted both claims were false.

Many of the largest news outlets ran a supposed death photo … but it was quickly proven fake (and see this).

The government now claims that it has a photo showing a dead Bin Laden … but won’t release it.

The photo was supposedly taken in a hangar in Afghanistan. As CNN notes:

Photos of OBLs body at a hangar after he was brought back to Afghanistan. This is the most recognizable with a clear picture of his face. The picture is gruesome because he has a massive open head wound across both eyes. It’s very bloody and gory.

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The official says the challenge is that the picture that includes the most recognizable image of OBLs face – from the hangar in Afghanistan – is so gruesome and mangled its not appropriate for say the front page of the newspaper.

The fact that the photo wasn’t taken right after the raid in Pakistan – but in a different country – makes it harder to confirm when the photo was taken.

I found this to be very interesting. I don’t know, maybe it’s having an interest in journalism, that made me watch this. I will let you know now though, there is no 9/11 specific information. The issue is much deeper than what can be discussed in an hour, but these guys did pretty good. Enjoy!

May 5, 2010

The Norman Lear Center hosts scholar Robert W. McChesney and journalist John Nichols as they discuss their new book, The Death and Life of American Journalism. Here, they’ll argue that the crisis in American journalism precedes the Internet, and the current economic turbulence stems from the hollowing out of journalism under corporate control, which has increased dramatically since the late 1970s. The problem with American journalism, they argue, is rooted in the longstanding tension between advertising-supported, profit-making media and democracy-sustaining journalism, and they debunk notions that old media firms can successfully migrate to the web or that the blogosphere will magically meet our journalism needs.